By Anthony Ratnaraj
Murphy News Service
On a nice day in early April Angie Holbrook was reading a book while sitting on her front porch when her husband, Chris Holbrook said he had something to tell her.
She recalled that her 43-year-old spouse said, “ The Libertarian Party had asked him if he wanted to run for governor. ”
She had known this was coming.
“I want to run for an office and to see if I can make real changes,” Holbrook said. Wife Angie said she understands his passion for politics.
“Alright,” she said.
Chris Holbrook is the Libertarian Party gubernatorial candidate hopes to unseat DFL incumbent Gov. Mark Dayton. The fringe party is hoping to get 5 percent of vote in the election, so the party does not have to petition to have its name on the ballot for the next election.
The Libertarian Party’s Minnesota affiliate has quadrupled in the state, Chair David Arvidson said.
Arvidson said there are only two officially endorsed Libertarian elected officials in the state. St. Peter City Councilman Roger Parras and Pine City Independent School District No. 578 member Alicia Ascheman are the two elected officials, who are endorsed by the Libertarian Party.
Holbrook and his running mate Chris Dock for Lieutenant governor were nominated at the party’s state convention last month.
Wisconsin Native
Holbrook is the oldest of Richard and Diane’s five children. His father was a factory, his mom a schoolteacher. He was born in Milwaukie March 23, 1971. He attended West Bend High School when his family moved to West Bend.
The Holbrook kids were active in sports and outdoor activities. They played in Little League, swimming clubs, and football.
“We spent a lot of time outdoors [and] not a whole lot of time inside playing games,” Holbrook said.
Holbrook went to Michigan State University to earn an engineering degree. But, in his sophomore year, he decided to drop out of college to make money.
“I thought instead of incurring a lot of debt. I wanted to go out and start becoming a businessman,” he said.
Holbrook emphasized that today’s college affordability is worse. “I think it’s outrageously expensive. I think affordability sucks. I don’t think it’s very affordable at all,” he said.
He said he’s successful in his life without having earned a four-year degree. Holbrook said college is not for everyone because college graduates can’t get a job or jobs don’t pay enough for students to pay their debts.
He moved to Florida in 1992 to work as a door-to-door salesman and telemarketer.
Holbrook said he landed with a day-job in a factory that made vehicle brake pads in Wisconsin when he moved there during the day. He went to school in the night for an associate degree in Architecture at a technical college.
He moved to the Twin Cities in 1998 landed a job with a lumber company around 1998. He now works as a sales representative at Boise Cascade.
Entering Politics
When they met 12 years ago, Angela Holbrook said Chris was not political at all. His views have been progressing since 9/11, she said.
He was not a Democrat or Republican.
“I have voted all over the board. I have voted for Republicans. I have voted for Democrats. I have voted for Independents. I vote for the best person,” Holbrook said about his voting behavior.
Holbrook, a member of the Libertarian Party, was interested in running for a political office. He said he was in talks with the Libertarian Party, when they asked him to be their candidate for governor’s office.
He has to start from scratch to create a campaign team within a month after wining his party’s nomination last month. But, for the party to be on the ballot, it needs to get over 2000 signatures from May 20 to June 3.
He said they could “easily” get more than 2,000 signatures necessary to get on the ballot.
Holbrook chuckles when asked about his campaign strategy. He said he does not want to giveaway his ‘secrets.’ But, he acknowledges that he can’t run a traditional campaign.
He said “running TV commercials on big network televisions isn’t a reality for us.”
He said his background in sales would help him to persuade people to vote for him.
Clear Distinction on Issues
Arvidson said the Libertarian Party is all about liberty. He said they’re socially liberal and economically conservative.
Holbrook said he wants to decriminalize laws aimed at limiting personal behavior.
“If you want to buy a beer on Sundays, then someone wants to open and sell it that should be their decision. It should not be the decision of a union influencing a governmental body. ”
He also said his party is the only party that supports marijuana for medical and recreational purposes.
The Minnesota State Legislature is debating the marijuana issue at the Capitol for this legislative season. Gov. Dayton said May 12 he would support the House version of the bill that would restrict the use of marijuana for medical purposes only in a press conference.
On the economic front, Holbrook wants a fair tax system, so everyone can pay at least some amount instead of wealthier Minnesotans paying increasingly more in taxes.
“You get taxed on stuff you buy. And not on the money you make,” he said.
Holbrooke also welcomes undocumented immigrants with open arms.
“Let them be here. If they buy stuff, they pay taxes into the system,” he said.
He also said using tax dollars to pay for construction of the new Viking Stadium is wrong because it amounts to government funding a private project without a public referendum.
Holbrook said the state should work to improve its system of vocational and technical schools, suggesting that such schools can help students get affordable educations in reasonable amounts of time and get jobs when they graduate.
Holbrook said Gov. Dayton’s two biggest mistakes have been raising taxes and conceding citizens’ rights to law enforcement.
He said Dayton “vetoed the fireworks bill because law enforcement said it would be dangerous. And he’s currently saying he will veto medical marijuana because the law enforcement say it’s dangerous.”
Holbrook said legislatures and the governor should make the laws, not engage in law enforcement.
Partnership
Holbrook met Angie in an acting school in St. Louis Park 2002. He married her in 2003.
Angie is supporting her husband’s candidacy and serving as his campaign treasurer.
“He’s a stand-up guy,” she said.
“Challenging”
The couple has no experience in running a political campaign. For Angie, running for a political office is a difficult endeavor.
She agrees that her husband’s chances of winning the election are “ pretty slim.”
“Realistically, I believe it will be a couple of election cycle before it [winning the governor’s office] does happen,” Holbrook said.
Angie said her husband is a goal-oriented person and “putting everything into it.”
“He wants to go all the way,” she said. “His goal is: I want to win. And that’s how he’s looking at it.”
Anthony Ratnaraj is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.